Kitchener hosts a few events called "art walks" where local artists display their work from their homes. Sometimes people from outside the neighbourhood will collaborate with locals to display their work as well. Last year I went to the Frederick Art Walk which I think is the most prominent one, but we have one for our neighbourhood as well, called the Central Art Walk. This time I was able to go and so was Lee-Anne.
When I did the Frederick walk I was too shy to go into most peoples' houses or linger at stands for too long. I mostly went to see my friend who makes bowls. This year I felt a little braver with Lee-Anne and we did a more complete tour.
The building that I work in hosts a few artists so we started there. One of my coworkers helped in organizing it and a few people that I serve were volunteering. There were I think seven locations on the art walk with two of them hosting multiple artists.
The definition for art was fairly flexible, so it wasn't only painters. For whatever reason, all the people hosted at my work were photographers. Lee-Anne asked for someone's business card but the guy misunderstood and showed her one of his photos at the size of a card. Lee-Anne wound up buying it to avoid the awkwardness of explaining the misunderstanding. It was a nice card though.
One of the places had knitted creations. We were wearing orange shirts because the walk was held on the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, so the person directed us to some plushies of nature images because a percentage of each purchase would go to an Indigenous organization. Lee-Anne bought a pair of mittens because she used to have a particular pair she couldn't find a replacement for, and the ones being sold were "lined" in a similar way. The outdoor wear had a portion of the proceeds go to helping with our homeless crisis. Gearing the charity to relate to the product was an interesting way of doing it.
Another place had a lot of wall art and quilts and we got a frame covered in colourful buttons. The person there was really talkative and had a job similar to my brother's. She said that he could "come cry on her porch anytime" and I realized that was not only kind, it was also pretty doable. At this point I realized that I wasn't just admiring local art, I was also meeting my neighbours.
There was a guy selling carved wooden spoons. This was particularly ideal because we got those wooden bowls from our wedding shower and were thinking about getting some matching cutlery. I know for a fact that the guy who made our bowls did the Central Art Walk last year because he stored some of his stuff in our building. He wasn't here this year though. Regardless, since most of the artists seemed to know each other and because of the similar products, I asked the spoon man if he knew my bowl guy. He said he didn't, but apparently he's done some collaborative work with a guy that makes bowls, so it is a pretty natural combination.
We picked two spoons, one for each bowl. The guy said the one I picked was apple wood and the one Lee-Anne chose was crabapple. Lee-Anne said it must be because she's crabby, which was the obvious joke and I was happy she said it so I didn't have to.
The last spot had some paintings and there was a soap maker who gave us a sample.
The Art Walk had a system where, if you got a card signed at each location, you could submit it for the chance to win a prize. I accidentally left my card at the spoon place, and since we only had one location left at that point, I just missed out on being able to enter it. However, on our way back the spoon guy saw us, shouted us out and asked if we forgot our card. I said yes but not to worry about it because it wasn't the reason I went on the walk. He said he'd vouch for me and submit my card.
That worked out for us because one of the locations seemed to be closed. Because you needed seven signatures and they were doing it by location not artist, one house being closed meant you couldn't complete your card. So maybe I'm the only person that was able to submit mine, and now I'm guaranteed to win. We'll see.
Here's a pic of most of the stuff we got
We dropped by my office on the way back to get a cup of water. One of my coworkers was there because it was still being used to host art, and she introduced me to the person she was talking to. The guy shook my hand and said "Hi, I'm Mike". I said "Hi Mike, I'm Gryphon". Lee-Anne burst out "I'm such a huge fan!"
It was Mike Morrice, our local MP and representative of the Green Party. When Trudeau sprung a surprise election, our riding didn't have a Liberal representative, allowing third parties to have a relevant chance. The Green Party took my vote and wound up winning. I had recognized him but pretended I didn't as a self-defense mechanism, but Lee-Anne reacted differently.
We'd seen Mike in the news regularly at places that we frequent, like the Iron Horse Trail, Victoria Park, and Cherry Park. Finally our paths crossed.
It's almost as if he walked right into our living room. There he is, in the building where I work, under decorations for our wedding shower. We'd have been happy to just see him at a local event, but he was introduced to us by a friend and we wound up having a conversation with him.
He was the one who asked for the photo. I thought he was just being charitable and offering us a pic with him, but when my coworker said she'd send me and Lee-Anne an email with the photos, Mike asked if he could get some taken with his phone.
He was familiar with both mine and Lee-Anne's work and said that Lee-Anne was now the most local CNIB employee he knew. He offered us a business card which had brail on it, topical because Lee-Anne has, and works with people with vision impairments.
I told Lee-Anne that I've gone through several periods of life where I felt charmed, like everything was just slanted in my favour. After the wedding and everything surrounding it, and at the end of this day, Lee-Anne said she felt like she was experiencing this "charmed" phenomenon.
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